20 "GONE TO THE DOGS" 



he had recently been at Portsmouth, I took the oppor- 

 tunity of asking after many of my former familiar 

 acquaintances, most of whom he seemed to know per- 

 fectly well. From many circumstances he related of 

 them, it struck me that he might have heard of the 

 individual to whom he was speaking, although I could 

 not recall the slisihtest knowledo:e of him. 



However, as he seemed to be very communicative, 

 I 251'esently said to him, " You seem to know many of 

 the Portsmouth people, did you ever know of a young 

 man ? " — naming my own name. 



" Oh, very well," he replied — '' a dashing young fellow 

 — used to carry himself rather high, a cut above the 

 others, as he thought himself." 



" Do you know what has become of him ? " I asked. 



" Oh, he has gone to the dogs long ago." 



It might have been the third or fourth year of my 

 having left that vicinity, and the subject of our con- 

 versation was the demerits of that individual, in which 

 I had the gratification of hearing myself handsomely 

 abused, till we pulled up at the " Peahen," St. Albans, 

 where stood the Leicester coach, without horses, and 

 the passengers all at breakfast. 



" "What have I to pay ? " said my friend. 



" Five shillings," I replied. 



He immediately tendered me a one-pound note ; I 

 called to the Leicester coachman, who generally stood 

 outside the door, to give me the time of day in passing. 



" ]\Ir. Fossee, have the goodness to give this gentle- 

 man change for his note — he is going on with you." 



" Certainly, sir," he said, calling me by name, and 



